Navigating the World of Sunday School and Small Groups

Starting and Surviving Multiple Sunday Schools

While on staff at my first church as Minister of Education, the church began experiencing rapid growth. The church received several awards for year-over-year growth in the Sunday School from our state convention (and was actually recognized by NAMB, too), and one key to keeping the growth on track was to begin a second Sunday School hour before the first one reached capacity. It was a big challenge to lead the church to adopt a dual-Sunday School format, but it really payed off in terms of the new people we were able to reach. Providing new options and classes helped us signal to the community that we were serious about providing for their needs through Sunday morning Bible study. An entire blog post could be written on the process we used to transition the church to the dual format (maybe a future blog post!), but today I want to share 25 things you should consider if you are thinking about beginning a second Sunday School hour at your church.

Multiple Sunday Schools do not double your space availability…remember that preschoolers are there for two hours

Multiple Sunday Schools do create breaks in fellowship…gear up to increase fellowship activities

Do not move into multiple Sunday Schools too quickly – give the people time to adjust to the new format, time to ask questions, and time to express concerns

A greeter center and a greeting system are “musts” for multiple Sunday Schools – things can get confusing really quick, so you’ll want trained volunteers who know the class options backwards and forwards

Use major recreation or fellowship space for multiple Sunday Schools (gym or fellowship hall). Consider purchasing movable walls that can be used to create temporary classrooms in large open spaces like gyms